10 February PAE84 - Nightman trade caravan attacked on the outskirts of Junction City.
Lantern Network - Junction City February 10th, PAe84 Gunfire was heard from Junction City on Sunday morning when a trade caravan from the Glass Knife tribe, bound from Lake Kanopolis to Junction City fell into an apparent ambush. According to reports from Army and Constabulary sources in Junction City, the six truck caravan came under fire from elevated positions as they entered a low lying road section along the route. What should have been a massacre was averted when Fulmene Ferri horsemen, guarding the caravan launched an assault of their own, charging the attackers. “We heard the sound of gunfire, including a machine gun for about fifteen minutes,” reported Lieutenant Ramsey Tollefson of the King’s 14th Regiment of Foot. “We got our troopers onto trucks and were at the battle site within forty minutes of hearing the first shots. A dozen men from the Frontier Corps were already out there when we arrived.” In the aftermath of the fighting, two Glass Knives lay dead along with one of the Fulmene Ferri horsemen. According to Lt. Tollefson, one of the Fulmene’s warhorses was wounded and was put down with a rifle after they arrived. Two of the attackers were also left dead in field. Information about the attack is being suppressed by Army authorities in Junction City stating, “We are investigating this attack vigorously and as facts are ascertained, they will be released.” Of the eighteen Glass Knives in the caravan, seven were reportedly wounded in addition to those killed. One of the wounded remains in the hospital in Junction City but is expected to recover. All but one of the surviving Fulmene horsemen were wounded, but were treated and released. Hospital authorities report that a disarmed Fulmene Ferri soldier has remained on post in the ward with the wounded Glass Knife since they arrived. Even without weapons, the guards in their red Roman tunics bearing the bandages from the battle seemed enough to deter most. Attempts to remove the rotating guard have been rebuffed by Captain Armand Monterey, the Frontier Corps senior officer in Junction City. “They’ve got good reason to be concerned for their friend’s safety. The men who attacked them were in uniform,” Monterey said. When asked to clarify, he clammed up saying, “I’ve already said too much.” He also posted one of his own men in the ward to prevent trouble. When our reporter tried to interview the unnamed Glass Knife patient who has remained behind a privacy curtain since their arrival, they were barred by the Fulmene Ferri guard. Identifying herself only as “Legionary”, the warrior made it clear that there would be swift and bodily harm if the reporter pressed the issue. When threatened with being jailed for assault if they did so, she simply said, “Then another will take my place and you will be no closer to them (the patient). But your friends will be visiting you in a hospital bed.” This reportedly brought snickers from Glass Knife tribesmen and women who watched the encounter from around the privacy curtain. We continue to try and identify who the “uniformed” attackers were, but according to the Lt. Tollefson, “The damage to the Glass Knife trucks is consistent with a heavy and sustained attack by a machine gun.” When asked why the Fulmene did not pursue the attackers when they fled, one legionary said, “Our instructions were to protect the caravan. We had wounded, and did not know if another attack was coming. So we defended the position until the situation resolved itself.” The normally effusive Glass Knives have been largely silent about the attack, but one who survived the attack asked tearfully, “Is this the King’s justice? We are attacked, our friends killed on the King’s road by men wearing his uniform?” The large Glass Knife community in Junction City has been strangely quiet in the aftermath of the attack. But in a rare show of solidarity, many shops in Junction City have hung brightly colored fabric in their windows to show their support for the Glass Knives who are an intrinsic part of the trade and business community there. Constabulary and Frontier Corps troopers have been much more visible on the streets of Junction City in a show of force to keep order.